ARE YOU STILL USING POTS? If you're using third party services, you might be. Copper wire, or POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service), is an aging infrastructure. Telco providers have attempted to save costs by converting some or all of the communication pathways to VOIP, but these changes can complicate signal transmission. In August 2022, the FCC ended regulations requiring telecom companies to provide landline services, effectively speeding up this process. While we're confident you are aware of this and are now using cellular and IP, you may not realize you are still utilizing POTS for a portion of your signal delivery. Third party providers, such as Alarm.com, Telguard, and Uplink to name a few, offer different methods of signal forwarding from their Network Operations Centers (NOC) to the monitoring center. During setup with the third-party services, many dealers entered their toll free or local dial-up receiver phone numbers for signal forwarding. Now they may be unaware that they are still using this method, or that there are other faster, more reliable paths available. We recommend checking these settings in your third party's portal and updating any receiver dial-up-numbers to IP forwarding. To find out more about this, we recommend contacting your provider. If you need assistance, please reach out to our Dealer Support team at 800-367-8798, or via email at dsupport@copsmonitoring.com! Studies suggest 9 out of 10 people want businesses to connect with them via SMS (text message). Those same studies indicate that consumers consider voicemails cumbersome and inconvenient. SMS is a fast and reliable way to communicate, messages can be saved for future reference, and they are easily forwarded. To improve customer satisfaction, we will soon begin sending SMS messages when we are unable to make contact on verification or notification calls. We will call numbers just as we do now, however, if we are unable to reach someone (voicemail/no answer, etc.), we will hang up and immediately send an SMS with the same information would have given over the phone or in voicemail: • Calling on behalf of [Dealer Name] • Date/time of Signal • Subscriber Name • Address • Event Condition In addition, each SMS will contain link that will open a secure landing page that will contain all of the information above, plus: • A message that states: "If this is a false alarm, please call [Central Dispatch Number].” Smartphones convert phone numbers to a link, allowing your customers and RPs to reach the monitoring center with a single touch. • Updates to the event such as verification attempts, whether a passcode was given, if authorities were dispatched, and optionally, the customer service number for your company. SMS not only improves user experience, but also adds functionality! To improve the way ALL messages are delivered to RPs starting today, you can convert notifications from 'phone' to 'text' on MPower by checking the box next to the individual numbers in the RP list [more info links will not be immediately available]. If you’d like, we can convert your entire customer base. Contact Dealer Support for details! SCAN TO EMAIL SCAN TO EMAIL
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